HotelChatter

For the oenophiles: The place is called the Vineyard for a reason--there's a wide range of excellent local wines from the Stellenbosch and Constantia wine regions. Waiters are all well-versed in what's hot and what's not in the wine world, and you'll rarely be disappointed.

And there is top quality food to go with the wine, in the two restaurants and the sushi bar. It's not fine dining, but it's fresh, simple and tasty--springbok and King Klip fish on the menu. When the sun's out, you can sit outside on the garden terrace and eat or just drink. The views of Table Mountain are fabulous.

Breakfast spreads are huge (papaya, mango, fresh yoghurts, cheeses, cold meats and salmon, local cakes and banana and nut breads) and you can order extra hot morning meals from the menu if there's any room left in you.

There are indoor (heated) and outdoor (freezing, when we were there in late autumn/winter) pools and a well-equipped gym. The spa offers a range of treatments longer than the wine list, including all the his and hers you could want. Alternatively, a soak together in the double-ended marble bath is just as healthy.

We'd like to find something to criticise, but to be honest, we can't. The staff were all super-friendly and helped us out with every little query we had, and the atmosphere was relaxed and clean and generally excellent.

If there are a couple of couples in your group, take a two-room apartment suite, one of the Garden Cottages. They are set apart from the main hotel and have a fully equipped kitchen and a huge dining/living room, and a beautiful view over Table Mountain (when the clouds aren't covering the thing).

Rates for a Garden Cottage are around R3940 ($513) a night, including breakfast. The cheapest room-without-a-view you can get (still pretty nice) is around R1670 ($217).

[Photo: Eggwardo]